Judge Swiftly Grants Harvard's Request

Federal judge issues temporary restraining order against block on international students
Posted May 23, 2025 11:45 AM CDT
Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Harvard Order
Harvard has almost 7,000 international students.   (Getty Images/Marcio Silva)

Harvard University's request for a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's block on international students was granted by a federal judge in Boston less than two hours after the university filed a lawsuit Friday morning. US District Judge Alison Burroughs said Harvard had shown that the Department of Homeland Security's Thursday order would cause "immediate and irreparable injury," the New York Times reports. "With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission."

Burroughs scheduled hearings on May 27 and May 29 on next steps in the case, including whether to issue a preliminary injunction, the Harvard Crimson reports. The Crimson notes that Burroughs is no stranger to Harvard cases: She is overseeing a lawsuit the university filed against the administration's funding cuts, and oversaw a lawsuit from Harvard and MIT in 2021 after the first Trump administration tried to ban foreign students enrolled in online courses from staying in the US.

Before Burroughs issued the order, the White House fired back against the lawsuit, the Guardian reports. "If only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of anti-American, antisemitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with," spokesperson Alison Jackson said, calling the lawsuit "frivolous. " (More Harvard University stories.)

Get breaking news in your inbox.
What you need to know, as soon as we know it.
Sign up
Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X